Chapter 238: Sage Art: Super Giant Dark Tailed Beast Bomb Expanding Rasengan!
"The north… if I remember correctly, isn't that—?"
Just as Uchiha Ci finished speaking,
A chilling sensation suddenly crept up his spine, making his hair stand on end.
He jerked his head up abruptly.
The next moment, he saw—
A massive cloud of white smoke rising into the air!
Amidst the dissipating mist, the colossal figures of two ferocious beasts suddenly emerged, towering over the land.
The ceaselessly steaming hot springs of Hell Valley's northern region were torn apart in an instant!
Two pitch-black, abyss-like Tailed Beast Bombs, carrying an aura of terror and absolute destruction, shredded through the steam, the ground, the air—annihilating every tree in the ancient forest that lay in their path!
In the blink of an eye, A massive trench over three hundred meters long was carved into the earth!
And these two terrifying projectiles were now streaking straight toward the camp—directly at his face!
Upon witnessing this, Uchiha Ci's pupils contracted sharply, The veins around his eyes bulging from the surge of emotion!
Despite the sudden, shocking development, it was the battle-hardened Aburame Ryoma who first regained his composure!
He raised his head slightly, his initially dazed gaze snapping into clarity as he locked onto the incoming Tailed Beast Bombs.
In that instant, he acted—
With a swift wave of his hand, he unleashed every single Destruction Bug on his body, forming a Secret Technique: Insect Wall before him, hoping to buy even a moment's time.
Then, without hesitation, he grabbed Uchiha Ci's arm and yanked him to the side in an attempt to escape!
His voice carried a grim urgency as he shouted,
"Ci, come with me now!"
The enemy hadn't pinpointed their exact location yet, so the Tailed Beast Bombs had been fired directly at the camp rather than at them specifically.
Even though Aburame Ryoma knew that Uchiha Ci also possessed a Tailed Beast's power—capable of firing that Phantom Dog Cannon, which carried near-apocalyptic force—
Even so,
This… was true Tailed Beast power, something far beyond the reach of Uchiha Ci's Phantom Dog Cannon!
They were only at the very edge of the blast radius, and with their speed, they could escape in time!
However—
When Aburame Ryoma pulled on Uchiha Ci's arm, it was as if he had grabbed an iron pillar—an immovable object forged from solid steel!
The young man before him stood frozen, unyielding, as if turned to stone!
"You're telling me—"
At that moment, Uchiha Ci's eyes widened further,
Fixated entirely on the two incoming Tailed Beast Bombs, his gaze locked in an almost obsessive trance.
Blood vessels burst across the whites of his eyes,
His expression twisted in anguish.
"You're telling me to leave—now?!"
If the only person in the camp were Kakuzu, he would've turned and fled without a second thought!
But—
Uchiha Setsuna—that old man—was still in the camp!
Along with countless innocent Konoha shinobi, Uchiha clan members, and Elder Chen, who had once guided him…
Uchiha Ci's body trembled uncontrollably, his voice barely a whisper,
"If I leave… what about them?!"
At that thought—
"Get out of my way!"
His expression twisted into a fierce snarl,
The Cursed Seal of Heaven surged across his body in a menacing, dark pattern!
With one powerful motion, he yanked his arm free,
In this state, every movement carried the force of a charging war machine, imbued with unstoppable strength!
Then, in a sudden turn, he grabbed the collar of Aburame Ryoma's black robe and flung him backward!
Holding nothing back—
Uchiha Ci immediately began stacking buffs!
Complete Second Stage Cursed Seal Transformation, Snake-Eyed Sharingan, Heart Impact to Ignite the Inner Fire, Eight Trigrams Seal Release to Unleash Zero-Tails, Donning the Artificial Tailed Beast Cloak, Full-Power Activation of Forbidden Technique: Body Revival—
This sequence was already ingrained in his muscle memory!
Faced with these two incoming Tailed Beast Bombs, capable of obliterating everything he had just realized he wished to protect—
Uchiha Ci had only one option: Put everything on the line!
Then,
He lifted his face, twisted in determination,
His left hand gripped his right wrist, fingers splayed wide—
In that moment,
A brilliantly blue chakra sphere manifested in his palm!
And in the next instant, it expanded, darkened, and spun wildly out of control!
The once sky-blue sphere deepened into an abyssal black, swelling with power—
A Dark Expanding Rasengan, augmented by Sage Art Chakra, filled with unbridled, rampaging Dark Chakra!
He then poured tremendous amounts of Chakra into it, further amplifying its destructive potential!
The Phantom Dog Cannon was nothing compared to a true Tailed Beast Bomb.
But—
Sage Art: Super Giant Dark Tailed Beast Bomb Expanding Rasengan!
This—might just be enough!
Struggling to contain the rapidly expanding, almost uncontrollable force in his hand,
Uchiha Ci's face contorted in agony, his bloodshot eyes fixated on the incoming bombs—
They were moments away from striking the camp, reducing everything to ash!
Then—
He charged forward.
One step.
Two steps.
Countless steps!
A full-speed sprint!
The setting sun cast his silhouette against the earth,
A streak of flying sand trailed behind him like a shadow of death,
Racing headlong toward Hell itself!
The winds howled, whipping his hair back as his killing intent peaked—his rage now an unshakable, indomitable will!
"You want to take away everything I have?!
"THEN COME—
"AND KILL ME FIRST!!!"
With a thunderous burst of speed, he tore through the forest,
Dashing past the camp,
And shot forward like an artillery shell!
At last—
Before the incoming Tailed Beast Bombs could reach the camp,
He raised the nightmarish Black Sphere in his hand high into the air!
In just five seconds, it had expanded from ten centimeters to nearly thirty meters in diameter—
And was still growing uncontrollably!
His fingers clenched,
He twisted his wrist—
And then, with all his might—slammed it downward!
---
Meanwhile, in Konoha—
The evening breeze carried drifting clouds across the sky,
The setting sun's light squeezed through the gaps in the clouds, casting an amber glow upon the Konoha Hospital's inpatient ward.
The warm rays spilled into the room,
Illuminating Namikaze Minato's golden hair, making it shine even brighter.
But—
For some reason, Minato felt that this evening sun… carried an air of sorrow.
At that moment—
"—Creak~"
The hospital room door swung open with a soft creak.
Minato didn't need to look—he already knew.
It was Kushina.
"Minato~ I came to see you!"
Just as he had expected, Kushina entered in a light summer dress, her new sandals tapping against the floor.
She set a bag of fruit gently on the bedside table.
"What are you looking at?"
She curiously leaned over to see what Minato was staring at.
But all he saw…
Was a lone blade of grass, struggling to survive in a crack on the windowsill, trembling in the evening breeze.
"…It's nothing." Minato snapped out of his daze, scratching his head with a sheepish smile.
"I just suddenly thought about Ci… He's been on his mission in Hell Valley for a long time now."
"I wonder how he's doing…"
But before Kushina could reply—
"BANG! BANG! BANG!"
From inside the bedside drawer—something began emitting an urgent, rhythmic pounding!
Minato's face turned grim as he yanked the drawer open—
Inside, his uniquely shaped Flying Thunder God Kunai lay glowing—
The four kanji on its hilt, "Sword of Shinobi's Love," now radiating a blinding golden light!
Seeing this, Minato's pupils shrank in shock—
"Not good—Ci is in danger!!!"